Many large excavators are provided with bucket assemblies. The bucket assemblies can be used to remove earth, tar sand, etc. In a typical excavator, a lip is welded to an edge of a bucket body. The lip, viewed head-on or looking into the bucket, may be skewed rearwardly at its two opposite ends. Chisel-shaped excavating teeth are coupled to the lip and are used for digging. The lip can have a means for removably securing the teeth to the lip so that worn or damaged teeth can be replaced. Damaged or worn teeth should be replaced to avoid damage to the lip and the bucket body and to maintain the effectiveness of the bucket assembly.
A lip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,897 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/054,332, filed on Nov. 13, 2001) by the same inventor as the present application. A number of improvements could be made to the lip. The sides of the lip in the patent application have straight edges and lip shrouds are attached to the straight edges. The lip shrouds do not have much penetration ability and mainly serve to protect the sides of the lip.
It would be desirable to protect the sides of the lip, and to also use the sides of the lip to help penetrate a material being excavated along with the front of the lip. Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems.